Charting the Best Graphing Calculators

Forgot your Texas Instruments TI-83+ the day of a trigonometry exam? Forget about it. Now you can have an iPhone software calculator nestled safely between Pac-Man and Facebook. We checked out four of the App Store’s best graphing calculators to see how well they helped us solve our problems--our math problems at least.

If graphing functionality is all you need, then this free app is
worth the download. The graphing calculator plots and traces several
equations at a time, supports a plethora of essential equations
functions, and can email an image of the graph. The X and Y coordinates
are displayed at the top, while pinching the screen zooms in and out of
the graph, enabling you to take a closer look at the coordinates.

We
missed an integrated calculator function, and we were limited to
plotting only four functions. Graphing Calculator also had a tendency
to crash while we were zooming in and out, losing all our
data.

Grafly is a sensationally vibrant way to graph your equation. This app
displays your equation in 2D or 3D with full shading, lighting, and
distinction between the inside and the outside of the shape. The 3D
graphs are touch-based, tilt-based, and gravity-based; pinch to zoom in
and out, calibrate “down” for tilt mode, or, in gravity mode, spin the
axis anyway you like by moving your device to get a full, 360 degree
view.

This graphing calculator is more suited to calculus geeks than those
testing out trigonometry. The graphs can get tricky to navigate and the
coordinates are difficult to interpret in 3D mode.

The i41CX+ RPN calculator looks and functions just like the graphing
calculators that are standard in high school classrooms today, such as
the TI-83+ or HP-41C. The interface captures the nostalgia of learning
to use a scientific calculator, but only after you take some time to
figure out how this app actually works

This graphing
calculator app is suitable for scientific, financial, mathematical, and
engineering applications. It supports 319 slots of main memory for data
storage and boasts 200 built-in functions, 600 extended memory slots,
and over a dozen pre-installed applications, with the ability to add on
more. It's also considerably cheaper than investing in an actual
scientific calculator, once you own an iPhone or iPod touch.

This graphing calculator application has an easy to use interface with
its sizeable buttons, customizable background colors, and clear grid
lines. However, it can be overwhelming at first, since there's no
tutorial or built-in help available.

Unfortunately, the interface gave us difficulty when interpreting
coordinates because the graph only counts by 10s, unless you zoom in.
But, if done incorrectly, pinching will increase or decrease coordinate
values, rather than zooming in and out of the graph.

THE WINNERAll calculator apps gave us clear graphs that were helpful to find functions' answers. Admittedly, they were also fun to play with; we were entranced by graphing several functions at a time and witnessing the lines draw themselves. The i41CX+ RPN calculator may look rugged and difficult to use, but it is the most concise and packed with the most helpful features. The i41CX+RPN is a reliable emulator of a real graphing calculator, and could help you pass that midterm, after all.